James Holmes Took First Love to Horror Movie Fest

It was James Holmes who first noticed the pretty student sitting in front of him in their core biology class at the University of Colorado Medical School.

After a trio of study sessions, he laid a cheesy pick-up line on her.

"Hey girl, lost my number. Can I have yours?" he texted her, according to a screenshot of the message displayed in court. It's the type of humor the courtroom has become accustomed to as more is learned about the accused killer's life in the year leading up to the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre.

Today, Holmes' first love, 25-year-old Gargi Datta, took the stand at the Arapahoe County Courthouse and faced down her former flame from not even 10 feet away.

She did not utter the Holmes' name as she testified, referring to him only as "defendant."

"We had three study sessions and they were in different coffee shops," Datta, a medical student, testified. She told him where they would be and he sent the text with the pick-up line, she said.

Datta said that Holmes often told corny jokes that made people uncomfortable. "His jokes fell flat in person," she explained to the jury, making sure not to look at the defendant, who was swiveling in his chair.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for allegedly murdering 12 people and wounding 70 more in the early morning hours of July 20, 2012.

Datta explained that their relationship, which began in October 2011 was short-lived. On their first date, they went to a horror movie festival in the Denver area.

After that, they watched movies, played board games and went hiking with fellow students, she said.

But by December 2011, things had changed. She walked to his apartment to tell him the bad news face to face.

"I was getting distant from him. I had already told him it would be a casual relationship from the start," she said. "I didn't really feel much closer with him. I think he liked me more than I liked him."

Still, the two stayed together and shared Valentine's Day, including a home-made meal of chicken and onions.

More testimony about the relationship is expected Thursday.

In fact, the accused theater shooter shared his most intimate thoughts with the woman prosecutors said was his first love, including one Google chat, according to a segment of the 22 hours of taped interviews of Holmes with a court-appointed psychiatrist.

According to testimony from a second psychiatrist, Jeff Metzner, she asks him: "What do you want to do?' He writes back "Kill people of course."

She asked him, "Then why don't you kill me and and Ben (another classmate)?" "I told you I can't do that," he said, according to the testimony. "If I did that I'd get caught and I couldn't kill more people. I'd also lose the rest of my life."

At the time, Datta considered the strange thoughts theoretical, Prosecutor George Brauchler said during opening statements, and she recommended that he see a therapist, which he did.

But after Holmes confronted another man who tried to talk to her on a St. Patrick's Day date, she told him she saw no future for the two of them, according to the opening statements.

They got back together a couple of months later, but by then, the killer said that he did not want to remain together.

"Did you miss her?" court-appointed therapist Dr. William Reid asked Holmes, according to the videos. "No," he said.